By Maja Zuvela
BUDVA, Montenegro, March 11 (Reuters) - The Trans-AnatolianNatural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) project expects BP to resolveoutstanding issues soon to become a stakeholder in themulti-billion dollar project that aims to reduce Europe'sreliance on Russian gas, a TANAP official said on Wednesday.
Magsud Mammad, the TANAP external relations director, toldReuters on the sidelines of an energy summit in Montenegro'scoastal resort of Budva that talks with BP, which said in2013 it wanted a 12 percent stake in the project, were ongoing.
"The agreement is still pending," Mammad said. "It is allabout technical problems which should be resolved soon. We havecertain technical differences but I don't think there's going tobe a pull out by BP," he said.
Azeri firm SOCAR holds a 58 percent stake in TANAP whileTurkish pipeline firm Botas raised its stake to 30 percent from20 percent in 2014.
TANAP envisages carrying 16 billion cubic metres (bcm) ofgas a year from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz II field in the CaspianSea, one of the world's largest gas fields, which is beingdeveloped by a BP-led consortium.
The pipeline will run from the Turkish-Georgian border toTurkey's border with Bulgaria and Greece. The preliminary costof the pipeline has been estimated at $10-$11 billion.
Mammad said the project would be inaugurated on March 17,while its construction would start in April. It is expected tobe completed by the end of 2018 in order to start deliveries ofgas from Shah Deniz II to Europe in 2019.
The Balkan states hope to benefit from the TANAP project,which could connect to the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) thatwill bring gas to Europe via Italy, through Albania.
Croatia, Montenegro and Bosnia joined Albania in backing TAPbecause they want to build the Ionian-Adriatic Pipeline (IAP)from TAP's landing point in Albania to supply them with gas asthey mainly rely on Russian imports. Montenegro and Albania arenot connected to a gas grid.
"There is a political will and we need to gather investorsand pursue the project in parallel with TANAP," Montenegro'sEconomy Minister Vladimir Kavaric said in Budva. The cost tobuild the link was put at around 700 million euros, he added. (Reporting by Maja Zuvela; Editing by Mark Potter)